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HAPPY LAWYERS MAKE MORE MONEY
APRIL 2026
MEMBER BULLETIN
A Message From Your Future Self (And Me) Please, Please Name the Files
The third week in April is National Organize Your Files Week, and boy, do I wish someone had impressed this upon me a long, long time ago.
Why? Because I was so busy building, growing, hustling, marketing, and selling (and with the occasional shuck and jive, too) that I didn’t give nearly as much care or attention to file naming conventions as I would have, could have, should have, and inexcusably advise everyone to.
Instead, I tolerated low standards from employees who are now long gone, but whose mess I permitted, and am still cleaning up and paying the price.
Seriously. Probably once a month, I literally feel the pain of having to go and search for something — a file with a nonexistent naming convention.
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you this is the worst part of my job: having to keep paying the price, over and over again, for mistakes I allowed more than a decade ago. This literally costs me thousands of dollars every month — and some months, a lot more than that.
I may never be able to get all of my files back in order, and this may just turn out to be one of those lessons in life that keeps showing up to teach me again and again.
Please, I’m begging you — and I just received a message from your future self, who asked me to beg you — please, please, please work with your firm’s COO to utilize proper file-naming conventions.
And as harsh as this may seem, make the repeated violation of that naming convention a fireable offense.
I promise you, your future self will thank you for this.
As a reminder, we always appreciate your referrals. Please ask anyone you care about to go here to learn more.
Depending on when you’re reading this, I’m either looking forward to seeing you at the April Live Quarterly Meeting from April 24 through 26, or else, it was great seeing you at the April Live Quarterly Meeting from April 24 through 26.
–RJon
MEMBERS PAYING IT FORWARD
Tolerated Behavior GoneToo Far Avoiding the Hard Conversation Costs More Than You Think
I waited three years to fire my first employee. Looking back, I tolerated their toxic behavior for too long. And that cost me more than anything else in my firm.
I’ll take you back to the beginning.
I worked for a software company in the Bay Area for a year before deciding to do something completely different. I quit, bought a one-way ticket to Italy, and started teaching English. But I wanted a bigger challenge.
So, I started two businesses: an English school in Italy and a website that helped people with Italian ancestry become Italian citizens. That’s where I realized I really enjoyed helping people figure out complicated parts of the law.
After ending those businesses, I knew I wanted to represent people who didn’t have a voice. So, I returned to California for law school, loved it, and even met my wife there.
Fast forward a little, and in 2016, I started Tenant Law Group. I hired my first employee later that year and grew my team. I wanted to build an environment where people could realize all their goals, and the relationship would benefit everyone. But that’s not what happened.
By 2019, team members were doing whatever they wanted. No one took it seriously, time off was out of hand, and the quality of what we were doing fell. I wasn’t holding anyone accountable.
I realized my firm was going to implode unless I made a change and off-boarded the people who weren’t doing their jobs, but I dreaded letting anyone down. I had a massive mental block when it came to firing people. The real issue wasn’t my team. It was letting poor behavior go unchecked. It took many conversations with my fractional CEO at HTM to overcome my fear of letting people go. When I finally took the plunge and let the first person go, everyone else left. I had to rehire the entire team. It felt like the worst-case scenario.
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APRIL 2026 MEMBER BULLETIN
But that same year that everyone left, I also gained my current COO, who’s incredible. It completely transformed the situation having support, and it was the year we broke the $1 million barrier.
Life was so much better. I went from not enjoying going to work at my firm to being recognized as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing businesses and one of the Best Places to Work by Fortune.
When I got to the point of releasing my mental block about firing, our profits almost doubled. The quality jumped up. And I learned how to make the hard decisions that were best for the firm. I waited and tolerated it too long. But now I feel like I’m truly commanding in a way to direct where things are heading. Now, if someone isn’t performing, I handle it early, no exceptions.
Your firm can only grow as fast as the hard decisions you are willing to make. And, tolerating toxic behavior will cost you more than letting a person go.
—Eric Toscano
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So, why am I telling you this when you already own a firm? Even if you are years into running your firm, if you don’t know the purpose behind what you are doing anymore, you’re just going through the motions … sometimes in the wrong direction.
The livestream series helps you return to your foundation and steers you in the right direction. The details change as you scale, but the basics don’t.
Think about driving across the country. You might know where you want to end up, but without a GPS, it would be a daunting trip. You might get lost. You might waste time. You might even second-guess where you’re going.
The basics are your map.
You may have gotten so busy with growth at your firm that you just haven’t gone back to the fundamentals that got you where you are now. You start throwing money at marketing instead of asking what’s actually missing. But the networking and connections that got you referrals before you made it big might be exactly what it takes to take you to the next level now.
Go back to the basics. Understand why you are doing this. Think about the goals you set and how they can steer you now.
If you’re ready to go back to the basics (or help someone you know get a leg up as they go out on their own), check out the livestream series with the QR code.
Because if you wanted to build a skyscraper on top of your house, you wouldn’t just start stacking floors. You would make sure the foundation was strong enough to support what you are building.
—Tania Music, Director of Special Projects
My new book, “ Truth, Lies, Mistakes, or Bullshit,” is coming out on Aug. 4. Scan here to preorder it (and get an advance copy, too).
MARCH 2026 MEMBER BULLETIN
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90-DAY LOOK BACK
‘Is This Real?’:The $1M Milestone That Transformed Afsana’s Life
I’m Afsana Chowdhury, founding attorney of Chowdhury Divorce Group, where we help families build better lives and brighter futures.
I joined HTM in October of 2023. Our revenues at the time were at $470,000, and in October 2025, I broke the $1 million barrier!
On top of that, this past year we finished renovating our first home, which we turned into an investment property after buying our dream home. Our lives have changed so much that I sometimes have to pinch myself and ask, “Is this real?” I did have some challenges at the end of 2025. We had a few employees resign, and I had to terminate some, too, so not everything has been smooth sailing. But I finished the year at $1.2 million, with a total owner benefit of $550,000 anyway. Lastly, I’ve been participating in the Practical Profitable Mindset program, and the way I deal with challenges now is so different from how I used to! Not just professionally, but also in my personal life, in my marriage, and with my three beautiful kids. And that has been the biggest win for me.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 4/6–4/16: How To Start A Law Firm Live Series With RJon
4/8–4/10: Iron Sharpens Iron 4/15: HTM Team Town Hall
4/22–4/23: SEAKEEPER Workshop 4/24–4/26: April LQM in Chicago, IL 5/14–5/17: Unleash the Beast With Erika Ferenczi 5/25: Memorial Day 5/28–5/30: Workshopalooza
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APRIL 2026 MEMBER BULLETIN
WHAT’S NEW WITH ME AND MINE
What It Looks LikeWhenWork Makes Room forWhat Matters Most
Clarissa just got back from spending some time in the sun.
By the time you read this, she’ll have already been to The Bahamas this year. And not for a special occasion, just a few days to warm up after a New Jersey winter that dumped way more snow than anyone asked for! Her version of “spring cleaning” is getting out of the cold and into the ocean.
Good plan.
Originally, she was going to fly back home — business as usual. But she got a call from her parents about a procedure her dad needed, and decided on the spot that her plans would need to be adjusted. From vacationing in the Bahamas, she went straight to Puerto Rico to help. Her dad is 89 now, but still strong, still independent, and still very much himself. The situation wasn’t urgent or dramatic. He needed help getting to and from some appointments for a skin cancer procedure, and a little support to follow the care instructions afterward.
Not full-time care, just … someone there.
One of the best parts about working remotely, she said, was that she didn’t have to treat this like an “all or nothing” decision. She didn’t have to choose between her family and her job.
As she told me afterward, she loves the work she’s doing building out our waiting room (and if you’ve been through it, you already know how much she cares about it). She hates missing meetings and gets FOMO when she has to. She didn’t want to step away from the work she’s doing. And she didn’t feel like she had to. So, she did both. Then came back feeling energized, connected, and peaceful about the three weeks she spent away. She didn’t skip a beat. (The procedure went well, and her dad is doing great, by the way.) Please remember that every single one of your employees and independent contractors is a human being. And because they’re human beings, they all have something going on in their lives right now. They’ve got parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, friends, or someone else in their life they care about, or else they are going through something themselves. And if you’re not taking an active interest in what’s going on in the lives of the human beings helping you make your dreams a reality, you’ll be at a severe disadvantage as you try to build a culture of people who give a shit about your business.
If these words ring true for you at all, please take the initiative to ask one or two of your employees this week: “How are you doing?” And then really pay attention to their response.
APRIL 2026 MEMBER BULLETIN
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INSIDE
1. How to Avoid Spending Thousands Each Month Because You Tolerated Bullshit from Your Staff 2. The Fear of Letting Someone Down That Nearly Took My Firm Down With It 4. Building a Million-Dollar Law Firm While Your Life Changes So Much You Start Asking, ‘Is This Even Real?’
4. Calendar of Events
5. How Clarissa Handled a Family Emergency in Another Country Without Losing Her Job, Income, or Ability to Keep Working 6. What Happens When You Go Back to the Basics — And Why It’s the Smartest Move You Can Make at Any Stage of Growth
RESOURCE OF THE MONTH
The Basics Are Your Firm’s Most Powerful Growth Tool
If you’ve ever needed something at HTM and didn’t know who to ask, you probably talked to me. I’m basically the get shit done girl; whatever you need, I’m on it, or I can find the right person for the job. And I’ve worked in pretty much every team here.
One of the things I’ve often heard from members is “God, I wish I had found HTM when …” I thought, well, what if we actually did something about it?
So, we put together a six-session livestream series with RJon on How to Start a Law Firm in 90 Days or Less.
While the title might sound like it’s just for brand-new firms, the fundamentals it covers are just as valuable for anyone who owns a law firm. Why? Because going back to the basics is one of the smartest things you can do. It’s often the basics that start to break down when you scale or grow, unless you build your firm to scale from the start.
The same things that started your business are the same things that will keep it growing.
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